HANCOCK COUNTY — Mary Collins was the first person who called authorities to let them know a longtime local business, Greenfield Granite, had been taking money from customers and not providing a service.
Collins lost $1,850 after paying Greenfield Granite to make a memorial bench for her husband’s grave site. Collins invested another $2,300 to get the memorial elsewhere.
While she was pleased to hear a judge had ruled in favor of the Indiana attorney general’s office in its civil case against the business late last week — awarding $379,500 to the state — she doesn’t know for certain what the default judgment means for her and the nearly 70 other former customers who were part of the state’s lawsuit.
The question is whether Collins and the dozens of others who were bilked out of thousands of dollars will ever be paid back.
Court Commissioner Cody Coombs handed down the four-page summary judgment on Saturday, Dec. 12, through Hancock County Circuit Court. It was officially filed on Monday, Dec. 14.
Throughout the proceedings, which began with the state’s lawsuit in September, representatives of Greenfield Granite never responded to the charges, Coombs noted in his ruling.
The decision by the court is the first major legal step in working toward repayment to the dozens of residents who lost thousands of dollars after they paid business owner Amie Strohl to provide them with crafted grave markers.
Strohl, 50, took her life on Tuesday, Sept. 8, at the business, 952 W. Main St. in Greenfield. The business, which was known as the oldest continuously run business in the county, provided grave markers for thousands of families for more than a century.
In his ruling, Coombs found the business committed an unfair, abusive or deceptive act against its own customers. The judgment allows the office of the attorney general to take whatever steps necessary to recover tangible business property, namely tools and consumer goods as identified in inventory. Coombs also directed the property to be liquidated and/or distributed with a goal of using the proceeds to make restitution to the victims.
Coombs awarded $5,000 per violation with some 69 different violations listed to date in the state’s case for a total of $345,000 to be paid by the business. Coupled with civil penalties at $500 per violation, netting another $34,500, the final judgment was for $379,500.
For customers who were not part of the state’s case, restitution may be made from the civil penalties, the judgment said.
The judgment also states any cremains found on the property are to be given to the Greenfield Police Department for identification and distribution to the next of kin.
Detective Nichole Gilbert, who has worked on the investigation for the Greenfield Police Department, said one family has claimed remains. The rest, believed to be up to six others, will be identified with the help of the coroner’s office.
Officials with Greenfield Granite, including Strohl’s husband, James Strohl, have been cooperative in allowing local officials to collect the remains, Gilbert said.
“Obviously, this may never bring closure for some of the people and the pain that they went through, but hopefully this can help them a little bit,” Gilbert said.
Any headstone that had been completed by Greenfield Granite has been released to the rightful owner, Gilbert added.
GPD had been investigating numerous reports of fraud associated with the business at the time Strohl took her life. Several customers already had sued Greenfield Granite and Strohl in county courts. One case was set for a hearing the day Strohl died.
Attorney General Curtis Hill sued the monument company and its registered agent, Cynthia Heck, who is Strohl’s mother, on Sept. 18. The civil action, which also originally sought an injunction and a temporary restraining order against the business, accused the company under the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act of taking customers’ money without providing gravestones they ordered.
The attorney general amended the complaint on Oct. 19, adding additional customers.
Danny Derrick won his local civil case against Greenfield Granite in November in small claims court. He had invested over $2,800 with Greenfield Granite for a personally crafted double headstone for himself and his wife, but never got it.
Derrick was thrilled to hear news the court had ruled in the state’s favor. He’s in the process of making sure his name is associated with the state’s case so he, too, can collect restitution when the state is able to liquidate Greenfield Granite’s assets.
Derrick has yet to see any money repaid from his small-claims case, one of several that have been filed by customers.
“I sure hope we’ll get some money back from this soon,” Derrick said. “Maybe my wife and I can then go buy a nice headstone.”
Attempts to reach officials with Greenfield Granite were not successful. The business’s phone has been disconnected.
